Agents of Atlas: The Great Game
by Dan Buckley
Summary: The Agents of Atlas are put through their greatest trial as Master Plan enacts his ruthless plot from beyond the grave. The team will have to find out if they are more than the sum of their parts or else they will lose The Great Game.
1. Chapter 1

Agents of Atlas

In

The Great Game

It was a common day in the hidden city of Atlas, the caves underneath San Francisco in early April were dank and cold. Ken Hale the Gorilla Man hated these days, his fur would get wet and he would start to smell like a dumpster.

"Of all the indignity I have to suffer already being the 400 pound gorilla in the room, now I smell like a zoo too," Ken griped.

"You know I could create a salve that will make your fur hydro impermeable," Bob Grayson The Uranian offered.

"No thanks Bobby, last time I offered to be your test monkey, people started calling me Orangutan Man, it took three weeks for my fur to turn back," Ken said.

Jimmy Woo the Khan of the Atlas Empire had gathered his inner circle for their weekly meetings and assignments. Jimmy was still getting used to being the benevolent emperor of a organization of monsters, mad scientist, and common criminals. M-11 the Human Robot was at his side analyzing the Atlas master computer in the central meeting room.

"Okay guys we have made great progress, M-11 was just crunching the numbers and we have eliminated ten percent of the Atlas Empires' "negative" aspects. Swell job everyone!" Jimmy said emphatically.

"Jeez Jimbo, no one has used swell since the Kennedy administration, you gotta start watching some MTV," said Ken.

"Yes, I certainly like the show about the tanned teenagers enjoying free love on the beach," announced Venus the Siren and recently promoted goddess of love.

"Yeaaaahhhh...On second thought just read the newspaper that should help," Ken said.

"This is why we are we are only ten percent done with are mission after eight straight months of work, because the simian has to crack jokes," begrudged Namora the Atlantean Princess.

Jimmy knew she was right, it had been nonstop stakeouts and take downs for almost a whole year and they were still so far from accomplishing his goal of turning the Empire into a force for good. Jimmy was also mentally exhausted he had not slept in a week, the Atlas city was enormous and the inventory of their headquarters was not even close to completed.

"Namora you bring up a great point, we are progressing slower than any of us would like, but we must be tactical in all of our moves in taking down the many arms of Atlas. If we don't completely destroy the branches' resources and personnel they could start right back up again and we would have to duplicate our efforts," Jimmy espoused.

"Woo I want results not a pep talk. If I wanted to have smoke blown up my backside I would have stayed in politics," remarked Namora.

"Well actually Namora the missions should start getting shorter and shorter, because Bob and M-11 have finally broken through the security protection on the Atlas master computer, we should be able to locate all Atlas facilities from this location," Jimmy bragged.

"It was nothing really it was just a multiple logarithm firewall, with cross encryption, it it usually a high school math final on Uranus, I admit I was a little rusty on the last binary sequence," Bob said smiling.

"Man one guy talks like the cast of Happy Days and the other talks out of his Uranus, can somebody just explains how this helps us kick Atlas Foundation tail," Ken stated mockingly.

"Well Ken like I was saying, If we have the main Atlas manifest at our HQ we can upload it to our mobile information units, this will allow us to asses how large a threat is, and how many us are needed to neutralize it," Jimmy said.

"So we spend less time planning and more time in action. I like it Woo you are thinking like an Atlantean chieftain now, strategy for us is when our foes lose 100 percent of their forces and we only lose 50," Namora commended.

"Right Namora, but I really don't want to lose anyone, with this new level of access we will be able to change tactics on the fly and geocentrically focus our missions," Jimmy stated.

With that Jimmy activated the new security access on the main computer. When he entered the final command the computer began to hum and make a strange clanging sound. The screen shut off and the computer let out a sharp feedback screech.

"Uh, oh Jimbo I think opening it up might have voided the warranty, did you keep the receipt maybe we can send it back tell' em it was defective," Ken joked.

The screen flickered and then turned back on, the image was black and white and a figure appeared. It was Master Plan aka Yellow Claw aka Golden Claw aka Plan Tzu, Jimmy Woo's late nemesis.

"Okay, where do I look, do I look at the camera or do I look to the side, how about in profile?" Plan confusingly asked.

"Just look directly into the camera sir," a voice answered off screen.

"Oh right tell me when to we are ready to start," Plan said

"We are already filming sir," the off screen voice said.

"Remind me to have you killed when we are finished," said Plan sternly.

Ken chuckled, "Boy Jimbo, it took you 50 years to defeat this guy?"

"Greetings to you Woo Yen Jet and compatriots. Some how you have breached the encryption network of my thinking machine. Do not think this a victory I let you do this. By decrypting my security network you have initiated a contingency program I have put in place called The Great Game," Plan maniacally stated.

"Woo, can I launch the computer yet?" Namora inquired enthusiastically.

"Hold up Namora, I want to hear what he is getting at." Jimmy stated calmly

"I will explain what the Great Game was for the lesser intelligent members of the group, of course I mean the filthy circus ape." Plan laughed.

"No Respect, No respect even from the dead guy." Ken groaned.

"The Great Game was an imperial land grab by the Russian and British Empire in the nineteenth century, for the Central Asian territories which are now apart of Afghanistan. Just another example of Euro-American ideas of dominating people of other races," Plan said pejoratively

"Bob, Have you found a way to bypass this program?" Jimmy asked.

"I have been trying, but it is a fundamental part of the central programing, tampering with it could cause the entire mainframe infrastructure to collapse, wiping out all of the data," Bob stated defeated.

Master Plan continued "My Great Game is a little different it will force your group to try to outwit me in situations where they lose any advantage of their gifts. That loud sound you heard at the program initiation was a high powered radio frequency that activated the timer of seven miniature nuclear devices. Six of which will detonate in two days and one that will detonate in four days. Each member of your group will have to disable their singular bomb before the final bomb can be disarmed."

"Jimmy, I can't draw anything from the program, it is completely locked up, it is like when the radio wave went out the locations of the devices went with it," Bob exclaimed.

"Once your countries' futility is displayed for not only preventing a nuclear holocaust, but also being blamed for it, the combined might of China and the Soviet Union will invade your pathetic country, and I Master Plan will rule it as my fiefdom!" Plan grandiosely shouted.

"The Soviet Union? that idiot forgot to turn the program off when he transferred the Atlas Empire over to Jimmy," Ken Griped.

"At his advanced age can you blame him? He can't have possibly remembered all of his evil schemes," Venus empathized.

"The location of the bombs is still bothering me, he would never tell us where they are himself so what is this Game he keeps talking about," Jimmy wondered allowed.

As Jimmy was saying this none of the group had noticed six long glass domes with machines attached to the top had dislodged from hidden compartments in the ceiling, and had now begun to silently descend towards the group.

"After this your team will never be the same again, and with that let the games begin..." Plan warned.

As Master Plan said this the domes dropped onto each corresponding member of the agents. The team was taken by surprised and tried as hard as they could to break the walls of the domes but to no avail.

"Why didn't the tin can sense these things coming," Ken shouted while struggling inside his prison.

Plan laughed on the screen, "Woo I would like to introduce one of the greatest scientific advances the Atlas Empire ever created. These are our Biometric Containment Units, they tracked you by your specific life signs,are made from an indestructible polymer, and the bottoms are electromagnetically attuned to the Earth's magnetic field, so even the sea witch flying up at full strength will not be able to lift it."

"Jimmy he is right I can't break this thing." Namora yelled while punching the enclosure.

"M-11, can you re-program the machines on top or blast out with your death ray." Jimmy commanded the robot.

"Negative" Buzzed M-11.

"Now to tell you about our second major breakthrough we have spent numerous year and countless resources creating the world's first ever teleportation device. Many of my servants perished perfecting this technology. Now you may be asking why not just use this teleportation pod to kill you. I have bigger plans for you James Woo and I want you to see your capitalist "utopia" fall to the people's army." Plan gloated on the screen.

"Plan you fool you have already handed over the role of Khan too me, I know your further plans for me," Jimmy argued fruitlessly.

Plan began to laugh on the screen, as he did the machines attached to the domes activated and a light start spinning around the top.

"Okay, how was that, dramatic enough?" Plan asked his off screen assistants.

"We are still filming sir," the voice answered.

Plan screamed, "Incompetents all of you,"

Jimmy yelled out final instructions, "Remember two days for the individual bombs, four for the final one, get in contact with the rest of the team as soon as you disable your bomb."

The computer screen went black, the containment units began to glow bright, when the light receded the tubes were empty.


	2. Chapter 2 Namora: Queen of the Desert

Agents of Atlas

In

The Great Game

Chapter 2

"Namora:Queen of the Desert"

**Day One**

Namora woke up to the most uncomfortable feeling, dry heat. The sand burned her bare feet when she stood still in one place, the desert sun hurt her skin with the protection of clouds overhead. She quickly established that the teleport had been successful no body parts were missing and everything was in its right place. Her first priority was finding water quickly, as dehydration works twice as fast on Atlanteans, without significant re-hydration she could die in matter of hours.

She needed to conserve as much energy as possible, standing still was causing her to sweat and flying blind was out of the question defying gravity was more taxing then it looked. She levitated to a height of fifty feet to observe the landscape, quickly having to descend when the mid-day sun proved too intense for her. The scouting flight allowed her to make out a rocky outcrop about a kilometer due East. She still could not figure out what desert she was in. She thought to herself could be the Gobi, the Arabian, hopefully not the Sahara.

"Damn it! if Bob was here he would done some Science trick like measure the angle of the sun and analyzed the sand and he would know exactly where he was in a minute!" she screamed aloud.

The anger was not helping but it was always her first reaction, Atlanteans are taught "level heads gets chopped off", so they always act on impulse. I have to reject my training, if I act hastily without thinking I could die, everyone of my decisions has to be tactical, she thought to herself. Her first maneuver was to head towards the rocks and find shade to cool off and then she would focus on finding the bomb.

It took more out of her than she expected to hike to the rocks. She searched for shade among the rocks and found a spot with with just enough protection to cover most of her torso and most of her thighs. On her she always carried two small emergency vials of water from the depths of Atlantis' throne room. This water had mystical properties it never became warm and could reinvigorate her temporarily. She had to be judicious in the use of the vials, for she knew not what Master Plan had in store for her trials.

"I can not sit around here anymore, I must act!" she cried aloud.

Then a second thought came over her, she kept thinking what would Bob do in this situation. He would study the surroundings and formulate the best course of action.

"Well I am in a very hot desert and I have been teleported here by a crazy machine," she thought aloud.

"That's it!" she exclaimed.

She remembered something Bob had told here about machines once, when the flying saucer was being flown without a pilot, it was strange and disquieting to her.

Bob had sensed her worry, and attempted to calm her, "Don't worry Namora, The saucer's computer has been programed where to go, machines cannot act randomly, without human programming they couldn't operate"

"The machine dropped me in this location for a reason, there must have been some kind of machine located around here which was programmed to tell the tube where to send me," she thought aloud.

She thought back to her scouting flight she had taken earlier in the day, the only feature for miles was these rocks. She began to search the rocks for a corresponding machine, hoping that time and sandstorms had not buried any trace of it. After an exhaustive search of finding nothing she returned to her shade to sit for a moment and rethink her next move. As she sat underneath the rocky overhang she suddenly felt a burning sensation on one of her arms and noticed a beam of sunlight was being reflected onto her arm.

"I cannot even die in peace the sun must even bother me in the shade!" she shouted aloud.

She then realized rocks and sand cannot reflect light but metal could. She trudged over to the spot where the the metal was reflecting the sun. Wiping the sand from the metal, a square top was revealed.

"Ha, Claw even in the middle of this desert, you cannot defeat Namora: Queen of the Seas!" she boasted to no one.

At this the metallic column sprung to life and started to rise up out of the ground, until a small monitor was visible. The screen hissed and turned on and again in black and white there stood Master Plan.

Plan began to speak "Congratulations, my ocean beauty you have discovered the first part of your game. By now you must be very weak from your search throughout the desert. I have a prize for your perseverance two gallons of water to rehydrate you to full strength."

The thought of any water made her willing to play any game Plan had designed for her.

Plan continued "There is only one problem the water is buried under the sand where it is cooler, if we had kept it at the surface it would have evaporated. For someone with your strength it should not be a difficult dig, I will even show you where it is."

As Khan said this a panel on the side opened and a robotic claw extended dropping a large wooden X on a spot in the sand.

"Once you are finished claiming your prize, come over and press the button for your next task," Plan finished, and with that another panel opened and a large yellow button appeared

Namora walked over to the X in the sand, she prepared to start to dig to reach her aquatic salvation. She started to wipe the sand from the spot, the sun continued to sap her strength. After a couple of handfuls of sand she was becoming drained from the exertion when a epiphany came to her, she was not meant to get the water. Plan had been selective in his wording he never said how deep the water was, if she continued to dig in her weakened state she would die just from the exhaustion. Plan knew her weakness he wanted to appeal to her base instincts. She instead changed the rules, she acted rationally and decided to take her chances and push the button to hear the next challenge he had in store.

After she had pressed the button Plan continued on the screen, "Ah now that you are refreshed, your next location is not far off, it is a small village twelves miles east of here. These are the people who will perish if the device detonates. They may sound like innocents but they are not, they are responsible for the death of your attendant Maka,"

When Plan spoke her name Namora felt a shock go throughout her entire body. Maka's family had served as royal attendants for centuries, it was a duty they were proud to bear. Maka was like a sister to her, they treated each other like equals without the knowledge of the class distinction between them. Even when Namora had assumed her royal position she still listened to the council of Maka. One day Maka told her she was going to collect some coral blooms out beyond the rim of Atlantis, she would never see her again. Namora assumed she might have been kidnapped or killed in some accident, she buried her feelings of grief, but the emptiness it left in her soul gnawed at her for the rest of her life. Even during her adventures on the surface she would always try track leads of Mermaids popping up at sideshows but they never led to her missing friend.

Plan continued his devastating message, "She had been captured by a fishing trawler and driven to the middle of the desert traded like chattel until she became a showcase at their village as a way to attract money. I had my agents track down the story of the desert mermaid, but by the time they got there the savages had let your friend die in her own prison. My men extracted the information which she provided her captors and that is how I linked her to you my dear. My final prize to you is the vengeance and satisfaction you will get watching these peoples' pathetic ignorant village get wiped off the map. If you do not believe me when you get to the town visit the coffee shop and you will see a large glass tank which was her prison cell and her grave."

Namora felt numb no longer from the heat or the sun, but from the news that her only friend as a child had spent her last moments swimming in her own filth watching people gawk at her. She struggled to grasp onto her half human side, to reason why this cruelty had to happen to one she was so close to, the only emotion she could feel was blind rage.

Plan finished his well thought out design "Namora you owe the humans nothing, they owe you everything let the bomb go off, let them perish in the conflagration of their own pettiness," with that the screen went blank.

Namora resolved that the humans would pay when she got to their village whether she had to tear the town down brick by brick or whether she would let the bomb wipe them out instantaneously, their treachery would not go unpunished.

She started east the rage had filled her with enough adrenaline to temporarily ignore the heat but she still needed to drink the first vial of emergency water this would allow her to walk most of the distance without overheating. The desert night would assist her the rest of the way, the temperature would plummet which would be less taxing on her body, but judging by the position of the sun, nightfall was not for another three or four hours.

The image of Maka's corpse kept flashing through her head. She felt responsible for allowing her to be kidnapped, if she would have went with her those men would not have stood a chance against the Atlantean royal. The anger had allowed her to survive the sweltering heat of the day time although she had to use the emergency second vile to continue when the sun was setting, even with her furor her biology would not allow her to survive much longer without a source of water. With the aid of nightfall and a temperature plummet she used the last of her strength to will herself into the air. She propelled herself the final two miles using the assistance of a strong wind. When the village was in sight she pushed herself harder to reach it.

The village itself was miniscule it looked as if it could barely support one hundred people. The houses were typical of desert dwellings, only one floor to avoid rising heat. The exteriors were made of sand colored clay bricks, the structures looked ancient but many were decrepit from lack of repair. A singular well stood in the middle of the village. A mosque stood untouched in the back of the village which was an amazing example of structural engineering, a dome formed only of clay and human ingenuity that can last hundreds of years. Next to the well was a large building with a clunky generator outside, this building was the coffee house and hotel where they use to entertain foreign visitors who would marvel at and make wishes to the captive mermaid. The outer perimeter was dotted with fenced in areas where various gaunt livestock mostly goats and sheep were corralled. A singular truck sat at the upper edge of the village propped up on cinder blocks, their only connection to the outside world rotting in obsolescence.

Namora landed at the edge of the village, in the moonlit cloudless desert air the village was illuminated. She thought to herself what a shame she would have to destroy such a serene place, but her anger overcame her again at the thought of her friend's suffering. As she started to walk toward the huts fatigue struck her, she had pushed her body to its limits in this brutal environment. Her face hit sand and the world around her went dark.

**Day Two**

Namora awoke to find herself in an ice water tub, the cool liquid reinvigorated her. As she looked around she realized she was in a brick room which had an antiquated refrigerator, a lone woman in desert clothing covering most of her face and body sat in a chair next to her.

"Hello," Namora said directly to her attendant.

The figure did not answer. Instead she ladled another scoop of water into the small tub.

"Thank you but that is not necessary. Do you speak English?" Namora inquired.

Again the woman stared at her not understanding any of what she was asking her. Namora stepped out of the bath to find out where she was and if anyone could answer her questions.. The room was small but it led out to a hallway which led to other rooms which has stuffed mattresses on the floors. When she reached the main room their were many meek dark skinned people staring at the six foot tall scantily clad woman.

"Were you the ones who helped me?" She asked of the group.

Th group mumbled to each other in a language which was foreign to Namora but sounded like a middle Eastern language. She needed to communicate with them somehow, she then saw a poster on the wall, moldy with age but still legible. It was for a french brand of tobacco and the poster itself was all in French. As a royal of Atlantis Namora was taught to speak surface languages as well as her native Atlantean tongue, she could speak English, French, and Spanish.

She announced aloud "_T__out parlez-vous français_?"

One old man with a long white beard stepped forward "_Oui, je parle français"_

Namora began to realize where she was at this point. The desert, the design of the village, the proximity to the ocean she must be somewhere in North Africa either in Algeria or Morocco. She asked the old man if her assumption was correct and he told her she was. Her exact location was in Morocco near the Algerian border. The oasis village was called El Achma and was founded on a underground spring which the well in the middle of town sat on top of. Namora thanked them for saving her, and then noticed a large glass box which was stained with algae behind the crowd. She knew now was the time to confront them on this.

In their imperial tongue she asked them. "The lack of shock on your face sir, tells me this is not the first time you have seen one of my gilled kind, is this correct?"

The old man whose name was Ali answered "You are correct madam, this village wronged one of your kin and a curse was placed on us because of that."

Namora was shocked and taken aback "My friend was no witch, how was your village cursed?"

Ali continued, "After the sea woman died, men came to our village they beat up the merchant who had displayed her, as an example when one of the clerks at the shop denounced them he was taken into the middle of the street and shot. The men then went to the fort, this village was established as a servant village for the French colonial fort. The fort stood next to a lake, a stream branched off the lake and flowed into the village past the fields and fed the underground spring. After Maka perished the water turned to poison, our children would get sick and die and worse the water started to contaminate our underground supply which the village lived on. We had to trade for dynamite to destroy the lake and block the poisonous water from killing more of our people."

As Namora heard this she started to experience an emotion she rarely felt, pity, she could hear the sorrow in the tone of his voice he was defeated, his village was close to ruin and his people were starved and thirsty.

"The water you have out in the well, it is almost gone then?" Namora asked.

"Yes, we have limits on the water use, it is almost completely dry and when it runs out we will have to abandon this village but we have nothing when we destroyed the stream the crops died and most of our animals with it. We live on meager rations we can trade for and aid from the government and charities when they pass here every few months," Ali lamented.

Namora decided that she couldn't destroy what had already been destroyed. Namora knew their misfortune was not brought about by Maka but by Plan and his men. The bomb had to be in the fort, the poisoning of the water was too coincidental. Namora had to first ease her mind over her friends death.

"Why did you hold my friend captive?" she asked Ali.

"It was an awful mistake, our greed took over. The village had the most visitors it had ever seen even more then when the French inhabited the fort. Everyone came to see our mermaid, we did not realize she was more than an animal on display. She would plead for us to release her, so she could see her friend Aquaria again. This is why we took care of you when we found you outside our village it was _inshalla _God willed" Ali explained.

"I don't know if god willed it, but I am Aquaria Neptuna, Maka's sister and when I found out what your village had done I was going to tear it apart. I can no longer do that because then I would be no better than your forebearers. There is a great evil that wishes to destroy your village and all in it and I must stop it. You must direct me toward the fort as I have only till midday to save you all." Namora proclaimed.

Namora went one last time to the dried up prison her friend had spent the end of her life in, and stood in silence. In her head she said an Atlantean prayer, and said good bye to her sister, a single tear dropped from her face. As she departed the village, the villagers had given her a goatskin filled with water. She tried to decline knowing the dire situation they were in, but they refused. She told them that they should begin to evacuate as soon as possible. They politely refused stating this was their home and that many had no where else to go.

Namora started the climb to the fort by following the dried up stream bed. It was surprising to her how different the landscape was a mere twelve miles from where she had started. There were rocks and the start of highlands. The climb was exhausting she had barely recovered from her ordeal the day before. She took a small sip from the goatskin, the thought of drinking from a recently dead animals skin revolted her, but she needed the strength. The fort was finally in site after an hour hike.

The fort was once a majestic lookout but had fallen into ruins from disrepair. The fort had been commissioned by the French as a lookout to the desert for bandit raids from the Berber tribes. By the late forties the French were pulling many of their post from the interior and the fort was abandoned. The edifice was made of the same material as the houses of the villagers clay brick but on a much larger scale. The lake if it could be called that was more of a large pond had dried up and Namora could see where explosives had been used to cut the water off from probably an underground source.

Namora entered the courtyard with caution, awaiting what Plan had in store for her. After she made a couple of steps a metallic object met her eye another column, as she approached, it began to rise. The screen was full of sand but the image was visible.

"Enough, Claw I have played all your games, produce the bomb so I can leave this forsaken place," she screamed aloud.

Plan started, "Congratulations on making it to the end of your part of the game. I hope you have enjoyed your prizes, so far. At this point you probably are going to want to let the bomb detonate taking care of these petty people. If you still desire to deactivate my weapon the task is simple. Throughout the fort there are large stone pieces, when assembled into the correct order they form a statue, this will produce the device for disarmament. If you get tired from the heat there is a pond just outside the fort which you can immerse yourself in to gain more strength, but if I was you I would just use it to fly yourself outside the blast radius to the next town over, the choice is yours."

Namora knew that the trick of this was that she supposed to have immersed herself in the poisoned pond, which would have slowed her down or killed her and the bomb would have went off anyway.

Plan finished with one final speech "One more thing, as you can see the fort is within rocky hills thus much of the blast will be contained locally. The target however is the underground water supply which feeds that pond. The blast is designed to go downward contaminating the water supply which would then seep to the coastal cities. If you try to cheat by breaking through the ground to get the bomb the sensors on the bomb will go off and the Game will be over .Good bye my dear, choose wisely."

Plan grinned as the screen faded to black. A platform in the middle of the courtyard rose up.

"That must be where I have to place the statue," she thought aloud.

The first thing she did was to fly up to get a birds eye view of the fort. She immediately noticed on one of the top walkways a large stone obstruction. As she flew down to it she found an engraved design on the side. This was the first piece, and it was gigantic, it was five feet high and ten feet wide. Namora began to lift the stone to judge its weight. When she lifted it too her thighs she judged it was about twenty five tons. She thought to herself if I was in the water I could lift this with one arm, but with the heat and dehydration, these will kill me trying to assemble the statue.

She took a large gulp of water from the goatskin and proceeded to lift the monolithic object. The courtyard and the top walk were separated by one wall. She leaned against the outer wall and pushed the object off the walkway into the fort, the piece thudded when it hit the ground but was in one piece. Namora then punched a hole through the inner wall and began to painstakingly push the piece into the courtyard.

After pushing it over near the raised platform Namora collapsed in exhaustion. She did not know how many pieces were out there or when the bomb was set to go off. She took a long drink of water which was running out quickly and started her search again. She went to the interior of the fort and noticed a wide opening which descended downward, probably into the officers quarters. Her eyes could see perfectly in the dark, all Atlanteans had the ability to see in the pitch black of the lower depths. She was able to see a large object just at the bottom of the stairs it was larger than the last piece and it would have to be pushed up the staircase.

Namora began to push the massive stone up the stairs, it took all of her strength to just stop it from falling back on top of her. As she neared the middle step the piece hit a small rock and proceeded to slide back down the steps. Namora was barely able to avoid the object as it crashed to the floor. Despondent she sat on top of it and started pondering her death, this desert would be her grave like it was for friend fifty years ago. The frustration got to her and with the recent revelation of Maka's death and pure exhaustion she began to weep as she had never done before. As she wallowed on the rock a noise took her attention, it was singing and it was coming from outside.

She quickly wiped off her face and emerged from the underground to seek out the commotion, what she found shocked her. The entire village was entering the fort, with ropes, extra water,hand carts and anything else they thought could be useful. The elder Ali stepped forward.

"Please accept our help as atonement for Maka, direct us and we will do whatever we can," Ali said. 

Namora, quickly briefed them on the situation and explained they would all die if she failed. Ali, told her not to be concerned as everyone in the village including the children were ready for death if it was Allah's will. Namora was rejuvenated at the assistance from those she was so quick to condemn. She quickly gave out tasks, she set the woman and children to search out for the remaining pieces, the men would assist her in moving the stones. The piece down the stairs was an easy move when it was roped up and pulled by forty men and pushed by one Atlantean.

The head of the statue was small and Namora lifted it on her own and dropped it into the courtyard. The second torso piece was placed and the back of the fort and was a difficult maneuver to the courtyard it had to be pushed up a flight of steps and down another to the courtyard, with the villages help it was still an arduous task. When they collected all of the pieces, Namora knew this would be the most difficult part lifting them up to complete the statue. Almost the entire village assisted in moving the feet and lower leg piece into place on the pedestal which shifted with the weight. Namora then lifted the upper leg piece onto the bottom piece the men than roped it off and pulled it into place. Namora, was panting from the exhaustive task, without hesitation a woman rushed to her and doused her with water from a bucket. The torso pieces were going to be the most challenging, she quickly came up the idea that the men climb the opposite walkways with ropes affixed to the pieces she would fly the pieces up while woman would continuously douse her with water and the men would guide the pieces with the ropes. With her last bit of strength she lifted the head on top.

When the puzzle was finished the people stared in disbelief not only at her power, but also perplexed at the visage on the statue. When Namora came down she recognized it right away, there in the middle of the Moroccan highlands was a twenty foot statue of Chairman Mao. She was amused by Plan's stupidity, and debated who was more fanatical him, or the men who carried out his schemes.

Before she could think another thought a door opened at the foot of the statue and a the bomb emerged. A small door on the front side of it opened and within the newly opened space flames erupted. A sign on the bomb stated to disarm turn handle. Namora was so tired of this game she wanted to rip the device off its cradle and throw it into the desert. A little girl emerged from the crowd encouraged by her parents and handed her a cloth soaked in water. Namora wrapped her hand in the cloth and stuck her hand into the opening, the flames started to dry the cloth. The cloth burned away quickly and Namora could feel her skin start to burn. The handle was rigid but with all her strength she turned it. Immediately the flames went out and the pipes connecting the bomb detached. The villagers began to cheer, dance and sing.

Namora turned to face them her hand red and blistered and said only one word in French, "Merci."

The villagers took turns returning their thanks hugging and thanking her in French back. They invited her for a feast at the village to thank her, she reluctantly agreed, but brought the bomb with her for fear that it would fall into the wrong hands. When she was done eating she thanked them and absolved them for the death of Maka. She said her goodbyes and decided to thank them with one final act of reconciliation. She went up to the fort and decided to restart the water flowing to the village as they had used so much in assisting her. She remembered Plan saying there were underground streams, she ascended to the highest part of the fort and flew up into the air. She started a downward plummet straight into the heart of the old pond. Flying as fast as she could she hit the sand like a bullet continuing straight downward, with great strain on her body. Eventually she felt traces of water hit her face she continued to fly downward until she finally was in a underground cavern swelling with water. When she was fully immersed in the water she was reinvigorated and started to drill holes to the surface, the pond bed began to fill rapidly. After enough water had reached the surface she emerged and started to direct the water toward the village.

When the villagers saw her leading the water back to them they cheered and waved. She waved back one final time and returned to the fort. Before she left she flew into the statue of Mao knocking it over, took one more swim, and flew to the nearest major city, with the bomb in tow. When she reached the city a short half hour flight away, she found a telephone and called the Atlas group emergency number. The monks in San Francisco programmed the coordinates into the computer and flying saucer started immediately for Africa. While Namora awaited her pick up, she contemplated the events of the last two days, she had exercised so much restraint and wondered if she still had her warrior instincts. When the time came could she still justify her actions and remove herself from thinking of the consequences they created.


End file.
